The present invention is directed to a new mechanical mowing height adjustment mechanism for an underbelly mower that includes a simplified mechanism for manually adjusting the mowing height of the mower deck and for placing the mower deck into a stable maintenance position. In some embodiments, the mower deck is manually placed in the maintenance position. The mechanical mowing height adjustment mechanism includes a selectively adjustable scissor lift assembly that can be released at near a middle thereof. The scissor lift assembly substantially reduces the weight of the mower by an amount that is sufficient for an operator to manually lift the front end of the mower. When the scissor lift assembly is released and the operator lifts the mower front end, the mower deck swings downwardly and forward until the rear of the mower deck rests upon the ground and such that the front end of the mower is supported by the mower deck in the maintenance position.
Underbelly mowers are of the type wherein a mower deck is mounted beneath the frame of a tractor or motorized vehicle principally between front and rear wheels of the vehicle. These are very commonly manufactured and used.
A principal drawback of such mowers is that they are difficult to maintain and clean because of the location of the mower deck and the difficulty in getting it raised for such maintenance. In order to get to the underside, the mower deck is traditionally disassembled from the tractor and then ungainly pulled from beneath the frame in order to free the deck of the frame raised on one side or the tractor itself must be raised so as to balance on the rear to give access, which is both somewhat unstable and often difficult to accomplish because the mower and even the mower deck are heavy. Another drawback of some underbelly mowers that allow the mower front to be raised and the deck rear to be unhooked from the frame and swung forward for maintenance is the heavy weight of the mower and the complicated breakable nature of the mechanism that suspends the deck and adjusts the cutting height. In particular, such mowers are too heavy to be lifted by hand. Instead, a powered lifting device must be employed to lift the mower front end. Additionally, certain components of the lift mechanism, such as but not limited to a quick release mechanism, break with regular frequency. When this happens, the deck rear cannot be disconnected. If the mower front is lifted with deck rear still easily connected, the deck open bottom is placed at a slant, relative to the ground or the mower frame. While one could shimmy under such a slanted deck to perform maintenance on the deck underside, this position increases the risk of the mower falling over onto the person under the mower. Consequently, when the deck rear cannot be disconnected, blade maintenance goes unperformed, leading to mower cutting malfunction.
It is therefore desirable to have a simplified underbelly mower that allows a user to manually raise one side of the deck while it is still under the mower frame to allow access to an underside to perform cleaning, repairs or the like and while the mower is in a comparatively stable position. It is also desirable to provide simplified, substantially unbreakable structure that allows a user to quickly and easily disengage an end, preferably the rear end, of the deck from a main frame of the mower so as to allow the deck to rotate or swing on the opposite side to further expose the deck underside for maintenance and then to quickly and easily re-engage the deck with the frame after maintenance is complete.